Andrew Zusman is a user experience designer and blogger. He is a graduate of Netcraft Academy, an institute for user experience education, and a UX designer at Inkod-Hypera. He is an alumnus of Indiana University. Andrew is a native Hoosier, but currently resides in Tel-Aviv with his girlfriend and their dog, Indy.

This, Android (and others) would have you believe is the future. Refridgerators that tell you what you should buy, cameras that work as phones instead of phones that work as cameras, and car starters run by iPhone apps.

Ladies and Gentelmen, the future is here…thus, the future is dead. Long live the future.

Is there no place in Android’s future for actually checking my fridge and making a list? Is there no place for keys or even a simple dongle that starts my car (my buddy Lowell had one of these way back in 1998 when we were 16 and we were all in awe of it…this ain’t the future, for those keeping score at home!)? Is there no place for just pressing a button.

Progress is often *need* based, but there isn’t a need for my fridge to tell me it’s empty (I know it is, because I’m hungry).

Where is the need for me to pull my phone out, find the right app, remember the interface, hit the right button, then log out of the app, and put the phone back in my pocket just to start my car?

There is a need for technological solutions to many MANY issues, but these issues aren’t among them, so my educated opinion is that these products are gimmicks and headed absolutely no where. Also, does this mean Android is going to get ad-based revenue from my fridge? Will people be so willing to share information about what’s in their fridge. Instagram is great for knowing what someone’s made to eat, but I don’t foresee so much interest in having a list in my pocket to let me know I’m out of kimchi and down to my last three eggs.

I love the example of an umbrella. The interface is the same, and the concept has been solid for as long as people sought a way to keep dry while walking in the rain. There doesn’t need to be an app to open and close my umbrella for me. It’s not that I’m opposed to the technological future, I just want the future to respond to problems rather than invent new ones.

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One thought on “The Future Is Dead. Long Live the Future.”

Good insight. While the rapid advancement of technology over the last 20-some years has brought about tremendous good, there are by-products of this that lead to redundancy. An app that lets you know your fridge is empty is cool… but unnecessary.